European Commission warns funders about hidden AI prompts in research funding applications

The European Commission has updated its European Research Area (ERA) Living Guidelines on the responsible use of Generative AI in research, in particular, encouraging research funding organisations (RFOs) to be vigilant about instructions deliberately hidden within applications to influence AI tools during the evaluation process.

The Commission published the third edition of its guidelines on the responsible use of generative AI in research on 08/05/2026, providing practical and operational recommendations to help the research community adopt and use generative AI responsibly.

The key change in this version was that the Commission has warned researchers and organisations to be aware that third parties may use generative AI when interacting with them and that they should inform these third parties accordingly.

The Commission added, in particular, a recommendation for RFOs: "When using generative AI as part of the internal processes, take into account the risks related to hidden prompts in content received by third parties, in particular in applications and proposals."

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